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Jason welcomes back Matthew Montagu-Pollock to the show, and talks more about international investing. Matthew is the president of Global Property Guide.

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the JetSetter Show, where we explore lifestyle-friendly destinations worldwide. Enjoy and learn from a variety of experts on topics ranging from upscale travel at wholesale prices, to retiring overseas, to global real estate and business opportunities, to tax havens and expatriate opportunities. You’ll get great ideas on unique cultures, causes, and cruise vacations. Whether you’re wealthy or just want to live a wealthy lifestyle, the JetSetter Show is for you. Here’s your host, Jason Hartman.

JASON HARTMAN: Welcome to the JetSetter Show! This is Jason Hartman, your host, where we explore lifestyle-friendly destinations worldwide. I think you’ll enjoy the interview we have for you today, and we will be back with that, in less than 60 seconds, here on the JetSetter Show.

JASON HARTMAN: It’s my pleasure to welcome Matthew Montagu-Pollock back to the show! He is the founder of Global Property Guide, and a fantastic resource for property purchase, sale, and rent values throughout the globe. And he’s a very knowledgeable gentleman, coming to us today from just outside London, England, in a city called Bristol. Matthew, welcome. How are you?

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: I’m very well, Jason. Thank you for that kind introduction.

JASON HARTMAN: Well, the pleasure is all mine, and it’s great to have you back on the show again. You are just a walking encyclopedia. Or at least, your website is. But, hey, let’s start with just sort of your general take on world real estate, world economies, and let’s circle the globe, if you will, and talk about some different markets!

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Well, it’s been very encouraging to see what’s happening in the US with the great revival of property values there, which seems to be having a big impact on the wider economy.

JASON HARTMAN: Well, you know, when you print a lot of fake money, it creates seeming blessings, that turn into curses later, called inflation.

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Well, that’s true. Well, this new kind of monetarism has suddenly become fashionable, it’s true. But I’m in Europe, where we’re still stuck very much, and so, the situation is very different. Now, I think one of the things which of course is gonna happen is that people from the US, and also to a lesser extent Canada, are going to recover their appetite for buying abroad or overseas, as they feel a bit richer. And we’re already seeing that. We see an increase in traffic on our site, partly I think because US people are coming on it, and looking at properties abroad. And I mean, one of the things in Europe is, there are opportunities in some of these countries, because things got so bad. We see interest starting in both Ireland and in Spain. In Spain, the Russians are there, because the prices have fallen so far in the south of Spain, they’re now often a third of what they used to be. But the values are quite compelling, despite the fact that the streets are crowded with people without any work, and 56% of people under 24 are unemployed.

JASON HARTMAN: And overall unemployment I hear is around 27%.

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Yeah.

JASON HARTMAN: And I’m sure in Spain, and every other country, the government manipulates those numbers to make them look better than they really are. So that’s another thing to be careful of. But yeah, the south of Spain is really quite interesting. I mean, what a gorgeous place. However, the question is, are we at a bottom, or is there going to be a complete collapse? And will things get a lot worse? I mean, with so much unemployment and desperation, that’s not a good sign.

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: No, it’s difficult to know. I just think that it will be—it’s gonna be a very different economy in the future, and to some extent, the foreigners will support it if you’re buying in attractive places, rather than mass housing estates, which have been hugely overbuilt. If you go in to buy a peasant villa with a swimming pool which is near some seaside, and near some cultural town—well, I think if you’re buying a third of what it was six years ago, it’s—I can’t say you can’t go wrong, but it’s an opportunity. Russians are not wrong to be jumping in on that. And in a way, a slightly different thing is happening in Ireland, which is probably perhaps not of such great interest to people from the US, but Dublin is beginning to revive. Because again, the crash was so enormous, and you see rental yields up quite high, at sort of 6, 7, 8% in the center of Dublin. And people are beginning to say, well, why shouldn’t I—it’s worth buying, it’s worth buying perhaps to rent out to people, and you begin to see the values bottoming.

JASON HARTMAN: Two questions for you, before you just move on there. first of all, since a lot of our audience is US-based—certainly not all of it; we have listeners all over the world. But, explain rental yields, if you would. Because US people don’t use that metric. At least not in the same way. Of course, whether you’re using cap rate, or cash on cash return, it all comes down to the same thing, but rental yields—

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Nobody much uses it except the [unintelligible]. It’s basically the same idea as price to rent ratio. Rental yield essentially means the return you get if you invest—if you’ve got a house which is worth $100,000, and you’re getting $3000, would that be right? $3000 in rent per year out of it, that’s a rental yield of 3%.

JASON HARTMAN: Right, right. And I just want everybody to notice that you didn’t have to mention the currency there, because it’s currency agnostic. So if it’s 100,000 Euros to buy the property, and 3000 Euros annually in net income, then it’s 3%. If it’s dollars, it’s dollars; if it’s yen, it’s yen; it doesn’t matter what the currency is.

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Yeah, exactly.

JASON HARTMAN: Yeah. So, rental yields of 6-7% in Dublin?

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Yeah, often higher, on smaller properties. So, that becomes quite attractive. Especially when you know that the properties are really, perhaps, 45% of what they were five years ago. And often Dublin is not an unattractive place. So, and—it’s true that you still have a big overhand of properties across the country, which—and people who’ve taken out mortgages, and who won’t be able to repay their mortgages. But you could have said that about the US only a few months ago. And we’re seeing quite a big rebound now. And I—I strongly believe that that kind of process is going to happen in Ireland, and you’re going to have to see something like the US experience repeating itself.

JASON HARTMAN: Sure, sure. Now, before you move on even past Ireland—back to Spain for a moment, if you would, because that’s just such an attractive place, in terms of natural beauty. Any particular cities or towns that you want to mention? I know that you—you’re basically looking at the entire planet, so, you may not drill down to that level, I would completely understand. But, just off hand, if you have any—

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: Yeah, I’m not very good on particular cities. It really depends what you like, because the Brits—and I’m as representative of the Brits, very fond of the south Spain, they’re also fond of south Portugal. Strong historical associations between the UK and the south of Portugal. [unintelligible]. But as to places….

JASON HARTMAN: Just thought I’d ask.

MATTHEW MONTAGU-POLLOCK: I can’t help you. We’re talking in terms of buying, but of course, the other thing, which I always think is attractive, is what I did. And when we were talking the other evening, it sounded as if you were thinking of the same thing. Which is, assuming you’ve got a property in the US, saying, to heck with this, let me go and live somewhere else for a year or two, and rent out your property in the US, and arbitrage it, and use the money, and go and get—and go and rent a property in another country. I did this in Manila, Philippines, when I took a very small apartment that I had in a not very attractive part of London, and I got myself in the center of the capital, in the second most subdivision, gated community, a very large house with a swimming pool, with space for two maids and a driver. And if you’d seen my previous apartment, you would have thought, you know, this guy is almost a welfare case. And then I transfer to Manila and I have this luxurious life. And this sort of exchange is very, very—I think it’s very attractive, and very possible, in many places. I mean, especially if you’re coming from somewhere like New York, where the prices, you know—the rents and the prices are so high.

JASON HARTMAN: Oh, listen, you are absolutely right, Matthew. I mean—and you can even do this within the United States, as well as within your home country, wherever you happen to be listening. You know, I moved from Newport Beach to Phoenix, Arizona, and, sans the hot dry summers, everything is better here. I’m a renter in a beautiful penthouse, and I get much more than I did in California for much less money, and really enjoy the life a lot more out here, frankly. So, renting is a great opportunity, and especially if you’re a person of means who’s renting what in that mark